How Much to Clean 5 Rooms?

“How much to clean 5 rooms?” Don’t you hate it when homeowners price shop house cleaning? How much to clean 5 rooms? Can you even give a fair price or a cleaning estimate without knowing more details?

Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says when someone asks “How much to clean 5 rooms?” They are asking for a sales pitch. If you give a cleaning quote sight unseen there’s no price negotiation. The homeowner can’t do a price comparison because they don’t know what you offer.

If you’re a house cleaner or maid, you’re in sales. Start selling.

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Listen: How Much to Clean 5 Rooms?

Watch: How Much to Clean 5 Rooms?

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

Question: How Much to Clean 5 Rooms?

How much should I charge for five rooms? We’re going to talk about that today.

Now, this is a question that I could answer until I’m blue in the face. But let’s go ahead and answer it. Because when a customer calls you price shopping on the phone, and they ask, “How much to clean 5 rooms?” You’ll get to have the conversation. So, let’s go ahead and have that conversation now.

How Much to Clean 5 Rooms? Go Ahead and Ask Me

I’m going to pretend I’m the house cleaner and you’re the customer. So, you call me up on the phone, and you say, “How much to clean 5 rooms?”

“Are those five bedrooms or are those five rooms total in the house?”

“No, that’s five bedrooms.”

“Are all five bedrooms occupied right now used on a regular basis?”

“Well, four of them are and one of them is not.”

Okay, that’s helpful to know. See where I’m going with this?

How Much to Clean 5 Rooms Is Just an Opening Question

“Of the four rooms used on a regular basis, is there somebody sleeping in those rooms? …bedding, clothes, shoes, and stuff like that? Or is one of them a music room and one of them is an office?”

(Because that’s a different clean than a bedroom.)

“No, there are four people that are living in those rooms, one of them is a music room.”

Okay, great, now we’re talking. So, there are five rooms, four are used as bedrooms, one of them is a music room. Okay, moving on.

Make Sure You Understand and Clarify Before Moving On

“Before I give you a price for the five rooms, most bedrooms in modern homes connect to a bathroom. Do your five bedrooms, also have bathrooms and are you including that in the cleaning or does someone else clean that?”

Wow, great question because guess what? Your price just went up. Are you quoting for five bedrooms now or are you quoting for a whole house?

“Well, yes. There are five bathrooms as well.”

“Okay. Now, the five bathrooms, are those also used all the time?”

“Yes, they’re used all the time. People shower in them every day, people use the toilets every day. There are hair care products there, people shave. Yes, there are five bathrooms, every day, that get used by everyone else in the house.”

“Okay, so we have five bedrooms, and we have five bathrooms?”

(That’s a very different story.)

As You Clarify Listen for Details They Forgot to Mention

“Oh, but I only think I need the bedrooms cleaned. I can have the family clean the bathrooms.”

“Okay, so is there someone right now in the house that cleans all the toilets and scours out all the tubs?

Because if you have five people in the house, it’s likely one of them has long hair, and it’s clogging one of your bathtubs. Is that possible?”

And they say, “Well, actually, that sounds like three of my bathrooms.”

“Okay, so on a regular basis, the people in your house are cleaning your bathrooms so you have it covered? Or is there ever a chance that you would want to throw the bathrooms in the rotation? I just want to make sure so that there are no surprises.”

“Well, can we throw three bathrooms in there and the five bedrooms on a regular basis?”

“All right. So now we’re talking about three bathrooms and five bedrooms.”

Keep Them Talking Because Bedrooms Don’t Live in a House by Themselves

“Tell me about the rest of the house. Is there a bonus room or a playroom?”

“Oh yes, there’s a bonus room and there’s a living room.”

“And do the people in the house take care of that as well or did you want to include those in the regular cleaning?

“Well, just the dusting.”

“Okay, so now we’re going to do the dusting as well. What about wiping down the furniture? Does anybody eat in front of the TV?”

“Oh yeah, our furniture is kind of sticky. So, what does it cost if you wipe down the furniture, and you just do the dusting?”

How Much Does It Cost to Clean 5 Rooms – Is a Budget Question?

Okay, I’m upping my price. We call it upselling, I’m just asking a series of questions. I’m not trying to be interrogating. We’re trying to get to a real, honest answer. Because a lot of people call us on the phone, and they just want a quote, and you say, well, my price is $300. Based on what? Where does that come from?

Then what happens is, they hang up the phone on you and they call the next person, and the next person says, well, it’s $250 for five rooms. And so, they say, well, I’ll go with the cheaper guy. But they have no idea what you’re offering and neither do you.

Are you talking about five rooms or are you talking about five rooms and three bathrooms, and wiping down the furniture in the living room?

Most Houses Have a Kitchen Too

“Tell me about the kitchen in this house. There are five people that live here, what are the eating habits? Does everyone sit down and eat at once, or are people coming and going and eating all day?”

“Oh yes, people are coming and going and eating all day.”

“Is it fair to say that the kitchen is in a constant state of use and there are always crumbs and things left on the counter?”

“Okay. When we come to clean those five rooms, is there ever a possibility you will want us to do a top to bottom cleaning in the kitchen? That way the people that live there can just maintain it and clean up after themselves?”

Once They’re Invested – Get Down to Brass Tacks

“By the way, how many square feet do you have in the house, just so I get an idea in my head?”

(If you have a five-bedroom, five-bathroom house I’m thinking this is going to be 5, 6, 8, 10,0000 square feet. I want to make sure that I’m not budgeting for a 2,500 square foot house if this a 10,000 square foot house because it is different.)

Once you break it down a little bit, you get the customer talking. At this point, you’re still not giving any prices because you can’t.

There are so many factors that you don’t know. When a person says, “how much does it cost to clean 5 rooms?”

What are we talking about? Do any of those rooms connect by a hallway or a stairway? Is there an entranceway in the house? Because all those areas need to dusting and vacuuming. They all have lights. They all have cobwebs. And they all have fingerprints.

Smart Questions Build Trust

When you finally get all these things out of the customer they start to trust you. And the customer is thinking, “Wow, this person is asking me a lot of questions. I thought I could just get a quick price, but they actually act like they’re interested in my home.

And the other three companies that I called just gave me a price. This is going to cost me a little bit more money, but they might do a better job.”

Ask Questions That Involve the Customer and Show You Care

Ask questions that then involve your customers.

“So, is it just five people that live in your house or do you also have pets? And do they pets have their own space in your house?”

Because you might get there and find out that the laundry room is also used for pets. There may be two litter boxes in there that then gets strewn all over the house.

So that would be helpful to know if there are pets in the house, and how the pets live and do the pets roam throughout the house, or are they crated?

The more involved they become in their own story, the more invested they are in the outcome.

If a prospect calls and ask for a price and you give them one – there is no investment.

Next – “How Much to Clean 5 Rooms?”

So, they’re going to hang up the phone and they’re going to go onto the next person on their list. They’re going to keep calling house cleaners until somebody takes an interest in them, and asks, “where do you live?”

“Oh yes, I have lots of houses in that neighborhood. I love that neighborhood. Here’s the reason why… By the way, do you have one of these houses that sits up against the lake?”

Okay, I know exactly what you’re talking about. You’ve got one of those great big archway windows in the back.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s my house.”

(Okay, now, you’re already in their neighborhood. You’re in their house. And so, they see you as a person that is like them. You already clean for their neighbors.)

Let Them Be a Hero for Finding You – The Perfect Match

The goal of this conversation is to set an appointment to come over and give them a free estimate.

“I would love to give you a quote on the phone. And I can give you a price range. But the price range is going to vary, based on a variety of different factors. So, do you want me to get your hopes up, or do you want me to just swing by?

It will take me just a couple of minutes and we can take a walk through your house, and you can show me your priorities.”

And they think, well, I’ve already invested a lot of time with this person.

They seem interested in me and my house.

They know my neighborhood and my house type.

Based on the questions they sound like they know what they are talking about.

“Sure, why don’t you swing on by. I’m here all day until 4:00 pm”

Your Answer is Never A Flat Quote

When someone calls you on the phone, and they say, how much does it cost? Your answer is not XYZ amount of dollars. The answer is,

I’m going to be in your neighborhood later this afternoon. I would love to swing by, meet you in person, and see if we’re a good fit, and give you a personal quote based on the information that I have.”

Then, they go, “yeah, yeah, that’s fine, let’s do that.” Because they have an investment in you as well.

All right, you’ve already started building that rapport.

You’re Already Halfway Through Your Walkthrough

And now, when you get to the customer’s house for the walkthrough, you’ve saved yourself a lot of time. Because you’ve already answered those questions on the telephone. Then, when you get over there, now, you’ve got five bedrooms that are on your worksheet. You’re prepared because you already know the parameters of this customer’s life.

And so, as you walk through the house, when you see the cat, you can call it by name. And they’re like,

“Whoa, how did she remember my cats’ names?”

Because you wrote it down. And so, this is your sales pitch. When a customer calls you, they don’t want to know how much it costs for five rooms. They want to know; can you sell me house cleaning services? That’s what they’re asking.

“Please sell me house cleaning services, I need some help.”

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